NWS Flood Thresholds Guide Skill

NWS Flood Thresholds Guide

Overview

The National Weather Service (NWS) maintains flood stage thresholds for thousands of stream gages across the United States. These thresholds define when water levels become hazardous.

Data Sources

Option 1: Bulk CSV Download (Recommended for Multiple Stations)

https://water.noaa.gov/resources/downloads/reports/nwps_all_gauges_report.csv

Option 2: Individual Station Pages

https://water.noaa.gov/gauges/<station_id>

Example: https://water.noaa.gov/gauges/04118105

Flood Stage Categories

| Category | CSV Column | Description | |----------|------------|-------------| | Action Stage | action stage | Water level requiring monitoring, preparation may be needed | | Flood Stage (Minor) | flood stage | Minimal property damage, some public threat. Use this to determine if flooding occurred. | | Moderate Flood Stage | moderate flood stage | Structure inundation, evacuations may be needed | | Major Flood Stage | major flood stage | Extensive damage, significant evacuations required |

For general flood detection, use the flood stage column as the threshold.

Downloading Bulk CSV

import pandas as pd
import csv
import urllib.request
import io

nws_url = "https://water.noaa.gov/resources/downloads/reports/nwps_all_gauges_report.csv"

response = urllib.request.urlopen(nws_url)
content = response.read().decode('utf-8')
reader = csv.reader(io.StringIO(content))
headers = next(reader)
data = [row[:43] for row in reader]  # Truncate to 43 columns
nws_df = pd.DataFrame(data, columns=headers)

Important: CSV Column Mismatch

The NWS CSV has a known issue: header row has 43 columns but data rows have 44 columns. Always truncate data rows to match header count:

data = [row[:43] for row in reader]

Key Columns

| Column Name | Description | |-------------|-------------| | usgs id | USGS station ID (8-digit string) | | location name | Station name/location | | state | Two-letter state code | | action stage | Action threshold (feet) | | flood stage | Minor flood threshold (feet) | | moderate flood stage | Moderate flood threshold (feet) | | major flood stage | Major flood threshold (feet) |

Converting to Numeric

Threshold columns need conversion from strings:

nws_df['flood stage'] = pd.to_numeric(nws_df['flood stage'], errors='coerce')

Filtering by State

# Get stations for a specific state
state_stations = nws_df[
    (nws_df['state'] == '<STATE_CODE>') &
    (nws_df['usgs id'].notna()) &
    (nws_df['usgs id'] != '') &
    (nws_df['flood stage'].notna()) &
    (nws_df['flood stage'] != -9999)
]

Matching Thresholds to Station IDs

# Build a dictionary of station thresholds
station_ids = ['<id_1>', '<id_2>', '<id_3>']
thresholds = {}

for _, row in nws_df.iterrows():
    usgs_id = str(row['usgs id']).strip()
    if usgs_id in station_ids:
        thresholds[usgs_id] = {
            'name': row['location name'],
            'flood': row['flood stage']
        }

Common Issues

| Issue | Cause | Solution | |-------|-------|----------| | Column mismatch error | CSV has 44 data columns but 43 headers | Truncate rows to 43 columns | | Missing thresholds | Station not in NWS database | Skip station or use alternative source | | Value is -9999 | No threshold defined | Filter out these values | | Empty usgs id | NWS-only station | Filter by usgs id != '' |

Best Practices

Always truncate CSV rows to match header count
Convert threshold columns to numeric before comparison
Filter out -9999 values (indicates no threshold defined)
Match stations by USGS ID (8-digit string with leading zeros)
Some stations may have flood stage but not action/moderate/major

Agent Skills: NWS Flood Thresholds Guide

Install this agent skill to your local

Skill Files